1 Listen, my people, to my teaching,and pay attention to what I say.
2 I am going to use wise sayingsand explain mysteries from the past,
3 things we have heard and known,things that our ancestors told us.
4 We will not keep them from our children;we will tell the next generationabout the Lord's power and his great deedsand the wonderful things he has done.
5 He gave laws to the people of Israeland commandments to the descendants of Jacob.He instructed our ancestorsto teach his laws to their children,
6 so that the next generation might learn themand in turn should tell their children.
7 In this way they also will put their trust in Godand not forget what he has done,but always obey his commandments.
8 They will not be like their ancestors,a rebellious and disobedient people,whose trust in God was never firmand who did not remain faithful to him.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,ran away on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep their covenant with God;they refused to obey his law.
11 They forgot what he had done,the miracles they had seen him perform.
12 While their ancestors watched, God performed miraclesin the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13 He divided the sea and took them through it;he made the waters stand like walls.
14 By day he led them with a cloudand all night long with the light of a fire.
15 He split rocks open in the desertand gave them water from the depths.
16 He caused a stream to come out of the rockand made water flow like a river.
17 But they continued to sin against God,and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
18 They deliberately put God to the testby demanding the food they wanted.
19 They spoke against God and said,“Can God supply food in the desert?
20 It is true that he struck the rock,and water flowed out in a torrent;but can he also provide us with breadand give his people meat?”
21 And so the Lord was angry when he heard them;he attacked his people with fire,and his anger against them grew,
22 because they had no faith in himand did not believe that he would save them.
23 But he spoke to the sky aboveand commanded its doors to open;
24 he gave them grain from heaven,by sending down manna for them to eat.
25 So they ate the food of angels,and God gave them all they wanted.
26 He also caused the east wind to blow,and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
27 and to his people he sent down birds,as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
28 they fell in the middle of the campall around the tents.
29 So the people ate and were satisfied;God gave them what they wanted.
30 But they had not yet satisfied their cravingand were still eating,
31 when God became angry with themand killed their strongest men,the best young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this the people kept sinning;in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
33 So he ended their days like a breathand their lives with sudden disaster.
34 Whenever he killed some of them,the rest would turn to him;they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
35 They remembered that God was their protector,that the Almighty came to their aid.
36 But their words were all lies;nothing they said was sincere.
37 They were not loyal to him;they were not faithful to their covenant with him.
38 But God was merciful to his people.He forgave their sinand did not destroy them.Many times he held back his angerand restrained his fury.
39 He remembered that they were only mortal beings,like a wind that blows by and is gone.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert;how many times they made him sad!
41 Again and again they put God to the testand brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
42 They forgot his great powerand the day when he saved them from their enemies
43 and performed his mighty acts and miraclesin the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
44 He turned the rivers into blood,and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
45 He sent flies among them, that tormented them,and frogs that ruined their land.
46 He sent locusts to eat their cropsand to destroy their fields.
47 He killed their grapevines with hailand their fig trees with frost.
48 He killed their cattle with hailand their flocks with lightning.
49 He caused them great distressby pouring out his anger and fierce rage,which came as messengers of death.
50 He did not restrain his angeror spare their lives,but killed them with a plague.
51 He killed the first-born sonsof all the families of Egypt.
52 Then he led his people out like a shepherdand guided them through the desert.
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy land,to the mountains which he himself conquered.
55 He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;he divided their land among the tribes of Israeland gave their homes to his people.
56 But they rebelled against Almighty Godand put him to the test.They did not obey his commandments,
57 but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors,unreliable as a crooked arrow.
58 They angered him with their heathen places of worship,and with their idols they made him furious.
59 God was angry when he saw it,so he rejected his people completely.
60 He abandoned his tent in Shiloh,the home where he had lived among us.
61 He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box,the symbol of his power and glory.
62 He was angry with his own peopleand let them be killed by their enemies.
63 Young men were killed in war,and young women had no one to marry.
64 Priests died by violence,and their widows were not allowed to mourn.
65 At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep;he was like a strong man excited by wine.
66 He drove his enemies backin lasting and shameful defeat.
67 But he rejected the descendants of Joseph;he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead he chose the tribe of Judahand Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.
69 There he built his Templelike his home in heaven;he made it firm like the earth itself,secure for all time.
70 He chose his servant David;he took him from the pastures,
71 where he looked after his flocks,and he made him king of Israel,the shepherd of the people of God.
72 David took care of them with unselfish devotionand led them with skill.